Jennifer Zetlan, soprano

Soprano Jennifer Zetlan is internationally recognized for her artistry and captivating stage presence. She has been seen and heard on opera and concert stages worldwide, as well as recital venues and on Broadway. In the current season, Ms. Zetlan performs at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the American Museum of Natural History, reprising her role in Matt Aucoin’s Crossing with American Repertory Theatre, creating the title role of Rhoda in John Musto’s Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt for On Site Opera, and reprising her role as Fanny in Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star.

Last season, Jennifer Zetlan made her European debut with the Staatstheater Stuttgart in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, created the title role in the world premiere of Jane Eyre by Louis Karchin with Center for Contemporary Opera (studio recorded for Naxos), performed the role of Laurey in Charlottesville Opera’s new production of Oklahoma, and concluded a run of Fiddler on the Roof (directed by Bartlett Sher) on Broadway. On the concert stage, she performed Kaija Saariaho’s Lonh with the New York Philharmonic at the Park Avenue Armory and sang the role of Woglinde in the New York Philharmonic’s concert presentation of Das Rheingold. Ms. Zetlan also sang the soprano solos in Bruckner’s Te Deum and Mozart’s Mass in C minor with Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall and on tour in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Known for her passion for contemporary music, Ms. Zetlan has been featured in the premieres of numerous American operas, including Nico Muhly’s Two Boys (The Metropolitan Opera) and Dark Sisters (Opera Company of Philadelphia and Gotham Chamber Opera), Steven Stucky and Jeremy Denk’s opera The Classical Style (Carnegie Hall and the Ojai Festival), Daron Hagen’s Amelia (Seattle Opera), Ned Rorem’s Our Town (Aspen Music Festival and Juilliard Opera Center; Western US and NYC premieres), Matt Aucoin’s Crossing (American Repertory Theatre), Ricky Ian Gordon’s Morning Star (Cincinnati Opera), Louis Karchin’s Jane Eyre, and arias from David Diamond’s The Noblest Game (Seattle Symphony). Other contemporary works she has performed include Henry Purcell and Kaija Saariaho’s The Tempest Songbook (Gotham Chamber Opera), György Ligeti’s Requiem (American Symphony Orchestra), Osvaldo Golijov’s 3 Songs for Soprano (Lexington Philharmonic), John Tavener’s Requiem (Sacred Music in a Sacred Space at St. Ignatius Loyola), David Hertzberg’s Nympharum, (Juilliard Orchestra) and Richard Ayres’ In The Alps (Alarm Will Sound), for which her last minute substitution was described as “flawless” by the New York Times.

On the Metropolitan opera stage, Ms. Zetlan has been seen in Boris Godunov (Xenia, also part of the Met in HD series), Macbeth (bloody child), and War and Peace (Second French actress). Other notable roles include Gilda in Rigoletto (Seattle Opera and Crested Butte), Musetta in La bohème (Seattle Opera, Princeton Festival), Woglinde in Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung and The Forest Bird in Siegfried (Seattle Opera 2013 Ring Cycle), Sardula in The Last Savage (Santa Fe Opera), Laoula in L’étoile (New York City Opera), Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (Ash Lawn Opera, Nashville Opera), Lisa in La Sonnambula (Florida Grand Opera), Madeline in The Fall of the House of Usher (Nashville Opera), and Nannetta in Falstaff (Juilliard Opera Center), among others.

Ms. Zetlan has also performed a wide range of orchestral works from the classical repertoire with the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, American Composers’ Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, Lexington Philharmonic, and National Chorale, as well as the Oratorio Society of New York, Musica Sacra, and MasterVoices.

Recognized as a unique recitalist, early in her career Ms. Zetlan was selected as an artist for the Marilyn Horne Foundation, with whom she was heard in recital at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and Christ and St. Stephen’s Church in New York City. In 2012, Ms. Zetlan gave a solo recital in Alice Tully Hall with her husband, pianist David Shimoni, as the recipient of the Juilliard School's Vocal Arts Recital Award. With Mr. Shimoni she has also given recitals for the Artist Series of Sarasota, 5 Boroughs Music Festival, Golandsky Institute, and Foothills Music Festival. Ms. Zetlan has also performed in recital with pianists Ken Noda, Martin Katz, Steve Blier, Anton Nel, and Ricky Ian Gordon. With Mr. Gordon as composer and pianist, she is also currently recording a CD of songs and arias.

Ms. Zetlan has a Masters of Music degree and Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, where she was a young artist in the Juilliard Opera Center. She completed her Bachelor of Music at the Mannes College of Music (B.M.), which recently featured her as a celebrated alumnus in their Centennial Celebration concert at Carnegie Hall.